Ummm, maybe you might want to check the Castle Argghhh! archives before you go off into full bore 'those damn right wingers' mode. This has been covered by 'right wing nut jobs' in the past.
YOu might want to check and see who has been donating to things like Soldiers Angels and Valor IT and donating to the commisary for hard up families(Michele Malkin has linked to them, have you?)----you know, charities to help wounded soldiers cope and soldiers dealing with financial hardship.
A mistake is a mistake. This is an horrific beauracratic cock-up. But an example of the system or representative? I doubt it, and given what I've put forward, I think your anger is a bit misplaced.

ry;

I think your criticism is a bit misplaced.

If you notice, the post does mention that this problem is the fault of both sides. Did you miss that part?

Are you saying that, because the Right supports charitable help for these soldiers, the Armys actions are OK?

Come on, this a bureacratic foul-up of the worst kind. It's not an isolated instance either.

Example: I have a friend who flew fighter/bomberrs in Vietnam. Flying below riverbanks and scanning for shooters, he looked up just in time to pull up to miss a bridge. Unfortunately, the JATO (jet assist unit) was scraped off the plane. The Navy billed him for years afterward for the cost of that unit. Is that support for our soldiers?

I think both of you missed the point. I have joined in efforts to support the troops through donations, letters, packages, etc. What I am saying is simple. The Department of Defense is screwing these young men and women, and this is not the first post I have made recently about this type of thing. Instead of augment the governments responsibilities to our troops, we need to insist that they give more than lipspeak to honoring them.

Mr. Anderson, I thought that's exactly want I conveyed. I re-read my post and still don't see how it could be construed any other way.

Oh well, I guess I'll have to edit a bit more carefully. :-)

You know I've gotta be contrarian, doncha David?

First perspective, as one who has had the military screw up his paycheck and ended up having problems: it always sucks, and it's always hard to get fixed, especially since you've inevitably spent the money already, and don't have it to pay it back. But there's always a way to handle it, somewhere short of not paying the soldier/sailor/airman/marine at all until it's fully reimbursed.

Speaking as a retired Chief Petty Officer, though, I have to say this is a failure of the senior enlisted leadership at the hospitals where these troops were recuperating. All it would take is for a Master Sergeant somewhere in the bowels of Walter Reed, for instance, to find out what's happening, develop some instant righteous indignation, and do what has to be done to make things work out as well as possible.

But the Colonel is right: if you're overpaid, you owe it to the government until you either repay it, or have the debt forgiven. The troops just need some assistance and leadership to guide them through the process.

So what are the senior enlisted at Walter Reed doing, if not watching out for the wounded troops that are having problems?

And now we get to the wider perspective, looking at the system as whole, in all its vastness. Yeah, it sucks when "the system" screws up, and the troops have to pay the price. People have to step in and make it right at that point: some to fix the process, others to fix the individual hardships.

But these things are going to happen. Nobody's perfect, and the Army happens to have more imperfections than the Navy (just an interservice rivalry dig there, don't anybody get their panties in a twist!). I can't get all over-wrought about it systemically.

On the other hand, were I to find out about a particular circumstance, you can bet I'd take the time off work to march down to Walter Reed (or Bethesda Naval Hospital, especially Bethesda), and kick a little senior enlisted butt for not doing THEIR FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT FUCKING JOB: TAKING CARE OF THE TROOPS!

I dont see that as being contrarian at all Bro. I happen to share your exact sentiments!

Floridian, my appologies, I read your comment early in the morning and took it to be addressing me. That is what I get for reading post before I have my first cup of coffee. Excellent response, thank you.

Actually, it seemed very loaded with holier than though. "With all the BS that comes from the Right about supporting our Military, why dont more Right Wing Bloggers blog about stuff like this. This makes me so angry I am absolutely livid!" How is that NOT saying that 'right wingers' are hypocrits and liars, while you, of course, are not(based on your lividity at the situation and the right wing bloggers supposedly not covering it); while you, and center-lefties, only have the troops interests at heart(and totally absent of interest to take some neocon/'right winger' scalp)?
Teh ecumenicism afterword, 'I don't care about the politics as both dems and reps are guilty' seems kinda tame and tacked on, mon ami, after that twin barrel blast at 'right wingers'.
Particularly when 'right wing' bloggers have paid attention to this story, as it's an old story that has just continued to go on.

Simply put, nobody reports that airplanes land safely. Is this representative? I don't think so. I've not heard from people deployed that it is(whether it be Airmen friends or Marines).
Boyd has, what I see, the right of it: "But these things are going to happen. Nobody's perfect, and the Army happens to have more imperfections than the Navy (just an interservice rivalry dig there, don't anybody get their panties in a twist!). I can't get all over-wrought about it systemically." Beauracracies make mistakes. The system is going to make mistakes and people are moving to take care of this. BUt there is a reason why the phrase 'beauracratic inertia' was coined.

The financial responsibility: hey, that's something every soldier/sailor/airmen/Marine faces. A buddy of mine ran an arty battalion. He sweated being responsible for any loss of stores or damage to his hogs, even during REFORGER exercises. He didn't get gigged for so much as a dime.
Every one who signs on the dotted line faces that. Da Goddess(a reservist who deployed who runs a blog of the same name) got genked for having brung back busted up gear, which she, if I remember correctly, had to pony up money for. Those are the rules.
Maybe the system seems a little heartless in this case, and I'd say that it is, but those are the regs. A little compassion here would go a long way. BUt something to draw a 'damn those right wingers' type response, whatever ecumenical bit thrown in later?

Getting all bent out of shape about this isn't support either. Joining groups like USNI or others is, since they work to make sure Veterans and Actives don't get f'd over thru their advocacy.

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